PerlRider has asked for the
wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks, I am struggling to install win32-API-0.41 module on perl 5.6.1.635. Can someone provide me the steps to install. Adding detailed steps and prerequisites is highly appriciated. Newer versions of perl is having this inbuilt module but , as per the requirement I need to install this module plz plz plz suggest me. Thanks in advance

Installation procedure:
-----------------------
1. Unpack Win32-API-0.41.tar.gz to a installation directory
2. Open a Windows command window (run c:\WINNT\System32\cmd.exe)
3. cd to the installation directory
4. run "perl Makefile.PL"
5. Setup nmake environment variables by running
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat"
6. Run "nmake"
7. Open a cygwin windows
a) cd to the installation directory
b) Run
"tar cvf Win32-API-041.tar blib"
"gzip --best win32-API-041.tar"
c) If cygwin is not installed use 7zip, it is a two-step process
"First use 7zip to create the .tar"
"Then, using the WinXP context menu entry, add the .tar to a new 7zip archive. Choose the Gzip archive format"
8. Go back to Windows command window
11. Run "nmake ppd" in the installation directory
12. Edit Win32-API.ppd with following line
<CODEBASE HREF="Win32-API-041.tar.gz" />
******************************************
At this point, you have just completed to compile the package. You can repeat following on other computer with the compiled files.
******************************************
13. To install Win32-API, Run
"ppm install Win32-API.ppd"
14. Run "perl -MWin32::API -e 1" to verify the installation.
15. You might need to copy msvcr70.dll to c:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Win32\API\
16. Installation completed.

Win32::API::Prototype is not part of Win32::API. Win32::API::Struct is part of Win32::API. I should have a new CPAN release of Win32::API with Perl 5.6 support by the end of the week. pack's syntax in 5.6 is very different/older compared to 5.8/Modern Perl so many tests fail either because (), [], !, and J are not supported by 5.6 pack().